Heat exchanger



W. GLOYER HEAT EXCHANGER April 6, 1948.

Filed Sept. 25, 1 945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIC.2.- l5 3 "7m INVENTOR Wa/ferG/m er Patented Apr. 6, 1948 HEAT EXOHANGER Walter Gloyer, PortWashington, N. Y., assignor to American Locomotive Company, New York, NY a corporation of New York Application September 25, 1945, Serial No.618,556

2 Claims. (Cl. 257-245) This invention relates to heat exchangers.

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger havinga shell divided into a plurality of narrow passages by a row of spacedthin plates disposed between exterior opposed plates forming side wallsof the shell. There are corrugated fin elements in the passages bondedto the adjacent plates, and headers at each end Each header of the othertwo sides of the shell. heads a plurality of the passages, the finelements in the headed passages being mitered adjacent the headers fordirecting the fluid flowing through the passages at the ends of theshell toward or away from the headers.

Another object is to provide a heat exchanger as aforesaid havingheaders at the opposite end walls of the shell for heading at least onepassage having a corrugated fin element which extends straight, withoutmitering, from one end wall of the shell to the other end wall thereof.

A further object is to provide a heat exchanger as aforesaid in whichthe corrugated elements have parallel legs which form tension members isa section on the line m-m of Fig. 2; Fig. d.

is a section on the line IV.IV of Fig. 2, showing a portion of thestructure thereof with only a portion of the mitered elements; Fig. 5 isa reduced section on the line VV of Fig. 3', the

corrugated elements being indicated by solid lines; Fig. 6 is a reducedsection on the line VI-VI of Fig. 3, the corrugated elements beingindicated by solid lines; Fig. 7 is an enlarged section on the lineVII-VII of Fig. '2, the' corrugated element of each passage beingindicated at the ends only thereof, in solid lines, and the elementshaving more corrugations than in Figs. 2-6, wherein the corrugations areenlarged for clarity; Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of thefront rightcorner of Fig. '7; Fig. 9 is an enlarged section on the line IX-IX ofFig. 5 showing one passage with'its corrugated element; Fig. 10 is areduced view of a portion of an inner plate showing the solder windingthereof preparatory to fabrication of the exchanger; Fig. 11 is aview,.similar to Fig. 10, of an outer plate with solder bands thereon;and Fig. 12 is an end view of Fig. 11, taken from the left thereof.

A heat exchanger constructed in accordance with the present invention,and indicated generally by the reference numeral I, is shown in verticalposition in the drawings and will be so described, it being understoodthat the exchanger may be disposed horizontally if desired. While theinvention is applicable to exchangers having two'or more passages fortwo or more fluids, it is shown in connection with seven passages forthree fluids.

The exchanger includes a shell 2,'rectangular in cross section, havingsimilar top and bottom end walls 3, similar front and rear walls 4 andsimilar side walls 5. Six spaced plates 6, parallel to walls 4,partition the shell into seven passages I. Passages. ,1 have theirlength vertically.

Plates 6 are preferably considerably thinner than walls 4 (Fig. '7).

walls 4 are permanently attached, as by welding, to the inner faces ofwalls 3. Walls 3 are each provided with along slot 8 disposed over thecenter passage l. The walls 5 are thinner than the walls 4 and are bentto provide vertical outer longitudinal loops 9 and inner longitudinalloops" Ill (Fig. 7) all opening inwardly.

The longitudinal margins of walls i and plates 4 6 arepermanentlysecured in looped and iii ree spectively, as by soldering, and the outerloops s are further strengthened by bolts it passing through orificestherein and in. the enclosed margins of the walls d.

fluids. Due to the thinness of the plates 6 and of the narrow width ofthe passages l, as well as the small cross-sectional dimensions of the.ex-

changer, the actual size of which is shown in Fig. '7, there is not roomenough for conventional I ,type headers placed at the ends of the shell.Acicording to the present invention, a new header construction isemployed, which solves the aforementioned problem. l

The exchanger is provided with six headers. There is aheader I2 securedto each wall 3 over the slot 8 therein, heading the center passage I forone fluid. Each header I2 has a nozzle l3. The side walls 5 do notextend the full length of the shell but are each spaced at its ends fromthe walls 3. Each of the spaces thus formed is covered by a header I4secured to the adjacent portions The top and bottom edges of 5 theplates ,6 are permanently attached as by soldering, and the top andbottom edges of the heating furnace where it is heated to a solderingtemperature. The bands 28 and ribbon 21 are also employed in solderingthe margins of walls 4 and plates 8 in the loops 8 and i respectively.

The headers id at the left side of the shell,

Fig. 3, head the second, fifth and seventh passages! for another fluid,while the headers II at the right side of the shell head the first,third and sixth passages I for a third fluid. The second, fifth andseventh passages are closed from the right side headers H, the first,third and sixth passages are closed from the left side headers it, andthe center passage is closed from all of the headers It, by wallportions ll. It will be noted that no adjacent passages open to the samenozzle. the correspondingnozzles at opposite ends of the exchangerserving one as an inlet and the other as an outlet for the passage orpassages communicating therewith. V

The center passage I headed by the headers I! has therein a corrugatedfin element or membrane It, the corrugations extending vertically fromone end wall 3 to the other end wall 3. The fluid flowing through thecenter passage l flows in the spaces of the corrugations of the elementII.

It is desired to employ a corrugated element in each of the otherpassages 1.. Such elements must be different from .the element It due tothe fact that the headers ll are laterally disposed of the shell. Theelement of each of these other passages is made in three parts, therebeing a part It having its corrugations extendin vertically, and a partat each end portion thereof having its corrugations extendinghorizontally for permitting flow of fluid from one correlated lateralheader to the other. These parts "-20 are mitered along the diagonals 2|providing elbows. Thus the spaces 22 between the corrugations of theparts 20 run horizontally from their respective headers until they meetThe legs 24 are perpendicular to the plates 8 and walls 4 and extend theheat exchanger surfaces thereof and further form tension memberspreventing distortion of the plates 6 and walls 4 by pressure of thefluids passing through the passages l.

The features of the heat exchanger bearing on the side wall loops andthe corrugated members form no part of the'present invention except asthey bear on the miterin" and headers of the with the vertical spaces 23of the corrugations of opposite edge extends between its correlatedheaders. Each space 23 meets a space 22 at each of its ends.

The elements, in cross section through their corrugations, appear asshown in Fig. 8 wherein they are shown slightly enlarged over actualsize. The cross-sectional appearances .of element iii and parts i2@ aresimilar. It will be seen that the corrugations have straight legs 24connected by U-bends 25. The elements are bonded to the plates t andwalls 6 by solder. This is accomplished by fastening bands of solder 28on the walls t as shown in Figs. 11 and 12 and by wrapping a long ribbonof solder 21 helically around each plate 8, as shown in Fig. 10, theninserting the corrugated elements in the passages, and placing theentire structure into the present invention. Fora further understandingof a heat exchanger having these features reference may be had to theapplication of Walter Gloyer and John M. Gantvoort, Serial No. 618,-554, filed of even date herewith.

. While there has been hereinbefore described an approved embodiment ofthis invention, it will be understood that many and various changes andmodifications in form, arrangement of parts and details of constructionmay be made without departing from the spirit of the inven-' tion, andthat all such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of theappended claims are contemplated as a part of this invention.

The invention claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A three-fluid heat exchanger comprising a rectangular shell havingfront and rear walls, side walls connecting said front and rear walls,and end walls connected to said front, rear and side walls; a pluralityof separate spaced parallel plates disposed in said shell extending fromone of said endwalls to the other of said endwalls and from one of saidside walls to the other of said side walls, dividing said shell into acentral passage and other passages on each side of said central passage,each of'said passages being entirely separated from the remainingpassages, said central passage being open at its opposite ends throughsaid end walls for flow of one fluid through said exchanger, and saidotherpassages being open at their opposite end portions laterally andalternately through said side walls, said other passages being for flowof two other fluids through said exchanger whereby said other two fluidsare in heat exchange relation with each other; a header secured to eachof said end walls for heading said central passage; a. header at eachend portion of each of said side walls, the headers of one sidewallheading some of said other passages and the headers of the other sidewall heading the remaining ofsaid other passages, no two adjacent ofsaid other passages opening into the same headers; a straight corrugatedfln in said central passage for guiding said fluid flowing therethroughfrom one of said end wall headers to the other of said end wall headers;and a corrugated fin element disposed in each of said other passages,each of said corrugated fin elements including a portion havingcorrugations running lengthwise of said shell, the opposite ends of saidportion each being mitered with another corrugated fin portion havingits corrugations normal to the corrugations of said first mentionedportion and extending to the adjacent side wall header whereby each ofsaid elements guides fluid from one of said side wall headers laterallyinto said shell, then longitudinally through said shell, and thenlaterally from said shell into the other correlated side wall header,said corrugated fin elements thereby assuring fluid flow through everypart of each of said other passages.

2. A heat exchanger as defined in claim 1 Y wherein each of the sidewall headers includes a REFERENCES CITED The following references are ofrecord in the file of this patent:

Number Number 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Forssblad Aug. '7, 1928Shipman June 8, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain July 11,1938 Great Britain July 31, 19411 France June 2, 1919

